OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals’ new prostate cancer vaccine, ProscaVax, stopped cancer progression in 80% of patients in their Phase 1 clinical trial after 6 injections. You can read the entire article here: “ProscaVax Vaccine Stopped Prostate Cancer Progression in 80% of Patients, Phase 1 Trial Shows”
The 19 week injection treatment trial included participants with recurrent disease after other treatment regimens. The ProscaVax vaccine immunizes patients against the protein prostate specific antigen (PSA.) High levels of PSA are associated with prostate cancer. The vaccine itself includes PSA plus two immune system activators, interleukin-2 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. It is designed to boost the immune system’s response against prostate cancer cells.
The Phase 1 trial being conducted at the University of California San Diego Medical School, included 20 patients who received the 6 vaccine shots at weeks 1, 2, 3, 7, 11, and 15. Researchers are evaluating the vaccine’s effectiveness against recurrent prostate cancer whose PSA levels had increased for more than 6 months prior to the start of the trial. The vaccine’s safety is also being assessed.
At 19 weeks, the first patient follow-up, researchers discovered that 16 out of the 20 patients treated had not progressed. Among the 4 patients whose disease had progressed; 3 had higher PSA levels, and imaging indicated that the cancer of the 4th had metastasized to the brain. Researchers also found that the vaccine is safe, and observed no serious adverse events or dose-limiting adverse events in the first 30 days after the vaccinations had begun. Researchers are planning to continue on with the phase 1b par of the study with booster shots.